5.  The applicant was born in 1975 and lives in Pepeni. He is a journalist.
6.  The applicant is a member of Hyde Park, an unincorporated non-governmental organisation from Chişinău lobbying, inter alia, for freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly. Following a demonstration organised by the organisation on 8 May 2008, the applicant's brother, also a member of the organisation, was arrested and placed in detention. As the applicant was unable to trace his brother for two days, he decided to go on hunger strike.
7.  On 10 May 2008 at 10 a.m. the applicant stood outside the Government building in Chişinău's main square, positioned a placard with the inscription “Hunger strike for rights” and started his silent protest. Shortly afterwards, police officers approached him and some asked him questions while others filmed him.
8.  At approximately 10.45 a.m. the applicant was approached by two persons wearing plain clothes. In a video filmed by the applicant, one of the persons can be seen ordering him to stop filming. The applicant refuses and says that he is a journalist on hunger strike. He asks them for identification. One of the two persons hits the applicant, apparently in the hand holding the camera, and threatens him in rude terms with violence if he does not stop filming. The applicant backs away, insisting that he has the right to film, and asks for the identity of the aggressor. The aggressor says that he is C.A., Commander of the Special Forces police regiment “Scut”. He says that he only wants to talk and insists that the applicant stop filming. The applicant asks why he does not want to talk with the camera on. C.A. retorts that he is not an actor to be filmed. The applicant asks for identification documents and, at that moment, he receives another blow from Mr C.A. He continues to back away while being followed by the second police officer who appears to forcefully put an end to the filming. The video resumes for several seconds in what appears to be a police van taking the applicant away from the scene of the event.
9.  In another video, filmed by the police from another angle, the scene with the two police officers and the applicant can be seen from a distance. The camera approaches when the second police officer forcefully puts an end to the applicant's filming, seizing the applicant by his clothes and hands. The applicant asks the police officer not to use force and insists that he has the right to protest. The police officer retorts that by protesting the applicant is breaching the rights of other persons. At that moment two uniformed police officers approach and apprehend the applicant. They take him to a police van without any resistance from the applicant.
10.  The applicant arrived at the police station at approximately 11 a.m. His personal effects were taken away and he was questioned for approximately two hours. According to him, he insisted on being informed of the reasons for his arrest, but to no avail.
11.  He was detained for forty-eight hours in solitary confinement in a cell without windows. The temperature in the cell was approximately fourteen degrees centigrade and he was wearing light clothes. There was a concrete bed in the cell, covered with wooden boards but without any bedding. There were no sanitary facilities and the applicant had to ask the guards to be taken to a toilet. The guards reacted to his request only one or two hours later, when he screamed out loud in order to be heard by their superiors. The only water the applicant had to drink was water from the sink in the toilet. Throughout his detention he was given no food and nobody was allowed to visit him. The cell was lit with a low-energy bulb which was on continuously, with no possibility to switch it off.
12.  After twelve hours of detention the applicant felt unwell. His request for a doctor was ignored and only the next morning was a doctor called and the applicant taken by ambulance to a hospital. The doctors at the hospital diagnosed him with nephrolithiasis (kidney stones) and renal colic (extremely sharp and severe pain caused by a renal stone blocking the ureter), and decided to hospitalise him. However, the police officer accompanying him refused.
13.  On 12 May 2008 at 11 a.m. the applicant was taken to the Buiucani District Court, where he learned that he had been charged with the offences of insulting police officers and resisting arrest. In particular, the police accused him of calling them “rats”, “cowards” and “Voronin's dogs” when they peacefully approached him.
14.  At the end of the hearing, at 3 p.m., the applicant was released. Since he had no money or mobile telephone, he had to walk to the police station to pick up his belongings without laces on his shoes and without a belt.
15.  At the police station he discovered that the memory of his video camera (approximately forty-five minutes of film) had been erased. He sealed the camera in the presence of two witnesses who signed a document attesting to the sealing. The police officer responsible for the storage of the applicant's belongings refused to sign the document. The same day the applicant took his camera to an expert who succeeded in recovering 7-10% of the contents of the erased memory, including the images described in paragraph 8 above.
16.  On 15 May 2008, the applicant lodged a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor's Office, complaining about the actions of the police officers. He complained that the police officers had breached several provisions of the Criminal Code. In particular, they had physically and verbally aggressed him, dispersed a peaceful protest held in accordance with the law, unlawfully deprived him of his liberty for forty-eight hours, and unlawfully searched him, seized his possessions and erased the memory of his video camera. However, on 26 May 2008 the complaint was dismissed. The applicant appealed. In his appeal he added that he had been held in inhuman and degrading conditions and that he had not been provided with appropriate medical assistance.
17.  In the meantime, the video of the applicant's verbal and physical abuse in front of the Government building (see paragraph 8 above) became the subject matter of a media scandal. Several television stations reported on the event and broadcast the video footage. As a result, on 28 May 2008 the Minister of Internal Affairs formally admonished the two police officers, C.A. and V.O. The applicant was accused of having provoked the police officers by insulting them and resisting arrest. He was also described as someone with a systematic tendency to disturb public order. Without any explanations, the police officers received an admonishment for breaching several rules of police conduct, in particular unprofessional conduct, dishonesty and failure to indentify themselves.
18.  On 5 June 2008 the Buiucani District Court delivered its judgment, acquitting the applicant of all charges. After examining the videos of the applicant's encounter with the police and his arrest of 10 May 2008 (see paragraphs 8 and 9 above) and after hearing witnesses, the court found that the accusations against the applicant were false and that he had not insulted the police officers or resisted arrest.
19.  On 15 June 2008 the Chişinău Prosecutor's Office dismissed the applicant's appeal on the ground that the police officers' behaviour did not disclose an offence. It was noted that the applicant had insulted the police officers by calling them “rats”, “cowards” and “Voronin's dogs” and that the two police officers who had physically and verbally assaulted the applicant had been admonished for their behaviour. The applicant lodged an appeal on points of law against that decision.
20.  On 2 July 2008 the Buiucani District Court dismissed the applicant's appeal against the Chişinău Prosecutor's Office's decision of 15 June 2008.